


"You Have Failed..."

by BradyGirl_12



Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DCU
Genre: Angst, Canon - TV, Canon Related, Canonical Character Death, Childhood Friends, Drama, Episode Related, Established Relationship, Friendship, Friendship/Love, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Male Friendship, Male Slash, Romantic Friendship, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-10-15
Updated: 2013-10-15
Packaged: 2017-12-29 12:50:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1005667
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BradyGirl_12/pseuds/BradyGirl_12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After tragedy strikes, Oliver has a difficult time coping.</p>
            </blockquote>





	"You Have Failed..."

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Major character death.  
> Spoilers: For various episodes of Season 1  
> Original LJ Date Of Completion: October 4, 2013  
> Original LJ Date Of Posting: October 15, 2013  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own ‘em, DC and Warner Brothers do, more’s the pity.  
> Original LJ Word Count: 543  
> Feedback welcome and appreciated.  
> Author’s Note: This story was written before the Season 2 premiere of _Arrow._  
> 

_“You have failed this city.”_

The Hood’s pronouncement of sentence on Starling City’s rich and corrupt pained him like a knife twisting in his gut. It was bitterly ironic because he had failed the man he loved.

Oliver sat hunched over in front of Tommy’s grave. His eyes were red-rimmed as he started at the black basalt surface, his reflection sad and lost in the headstone.

_Tommy, I’m so sorry._

Images of growing up with his best friend played out in his mind: playing baseball and football and Tommy sleeping over and as they grew older, partying and drinking and having sex that turned to love. They kept it under wraps and had flings with women, though Oliver broke it off with Laurel. He cared too much about her to use her.

_And then I took that voyage with Dad and Sarah and it was five years of hell after the shipwreck on that island. I never stopped missing you, Tommy._

It had hurt to come home and push Tommy away. A confused Tommy had tried to give his lover space but their relationship fell apart under the pressures of Oliver’s double life. Tommy had quit as manager of Oliver’s club and returned to his father and the family business, ignorant of his father’s evil schemes and identity as the Dark Archer.

And when Malcolm Merlyn carried out the Undertaking against the Glades, causing a man-made earthquake, Tommy had gone to the legal aid clinic located there and had saved Laurel.

 _But who saved **you?**_ A tear slid down Oliver’s cheek. _No one._

The fears flowed freer as the ache increased. Tommy had learned about Oliver’s double life and had been hurt that his old friend and lover had kept the truth from him.

_I should have told you, but I wanted to protect you. You’d be vulnerable to people like the Huntress and Deadshot and everyone else who hates me._

The ache grew until he felt like he would split in two. Tommy had deserved so much better. He’d had to endure a childhood with a cold father who’d been unable to cope with his wife’s murder in the Glades, motivation for the earthquake. Instead Oliver’s father had taken Tommy to his first ballgame, gone fishing with him, taken to the movies. Tommy’s smile had lit up the world, or at least it had seemed that way to a smitten Oliver. The memories were sweet yet sad now. Oliver felt the sting of hot tears. 

_You were always there for me, Tommy, but I wasn’t there for **you.** I failed you._

_“You have failed your friend and lover.”_

He buried his face in his hands as he wept.

& & & & & &

Several yards away, John Diggle and Felicity Smoak stood under the spreading branches of a venerable old maple tree. They waited patiently and in silence until Felicity asked, “Do you think he’ll get through this?”

“He will because he’s a survivor, but who knows who will come out the other side?”

“You mean, he could go either way?”

John nodded and Felicity swallowed. The wind blew, carrying the scent of smoke from the extinguished fires of the earthquake-ruptured Glades.


End file.
